Cypriot authorities extradite hijacker to Egypt

An Egyptian national who in March 2016 hijacked an EgyptAir flight and diverted it to Cyprus was extradited to Egypt on Saturday.

Cyprus Police sources told the CNA that Seif el Din Mostafa was transferred from the Central Prison in Nicosia, to Larnaka international airport and was handed over to the Egyptian authorities.

Mostafa hijacked a domestic flight from Alexandria en route to Cairo and forced it to land in Cyprus. Seven hours later, the hijacker of EgyptAir flight MS181, which landed in Larnaka, surrendered himself to the Police. All passengers and crew were released unharmed and returned to Cairo.

The Egyptian authorities requested his extradition. In September 2016 the Nicosia District Court ordered his extradition rejecting his claim that he could not get a fair trial in his home country.

In November 2017 the Supreme Court rejected his appeal, upholding the decision of the District Court.

Ahram Online, an English-language news web site in Egypt, cited a statement from the Egyptian prosecution office saying that “a security mission from the Egyptian INTERPOL Police Department travelled to the Cypriot capital of Nicosia and received the suspect to extradite him to Cairo”.

Egyptian Prosecutor Nabil Sadek ordered a probe into the incident, the statement added.

Ahram Online added that the Egyptian prosecutor’s extradition request cited an Egyptian-Cypriot 1996 agreement of extradition of criminals between the two countries along with other international treaties.